DISCOVERY CENTRE
Architecture Discipline
ARCHITECT
Architecture Discipline
ARCHITECT IN CHARGE
Akshat Bhatt
DESIGN TEAM
Aditya Tognatta, Nishant Malhotra, Nidhi Khosla
ELECTRICAL
Lirio Lopez, Linus Lopez
PLUMBING
Deepak Kumar & Associates
LIGHTING
Lirio Lopez, Linus Lopez
LANDSCAPE
Bdp London, Design Milieu, Chris Stanton
PROJECT LEAD
Nirmal C Gupta, Sameer Uddin
ENGINEERING
Lyrita Audio, Viren Bakhshi
STRUCTURAL
Isha Consultant Pvt. Ltd., Project Lead: Vp Aggarwal
YEAR
2013
LOCATION
Bengaluru, India
CATEGORY
Community Centre
Text description provided by architect.
As a studio that engages in progressive architectural practice with an intent to make buildings last longer through the utility of longer life-span materials, the Discovery Centre is envisaged as architecture that exhibits cultural continuity and creates built form that need not to be conditioned and spruced up timely.
A Greenfield project purposed to demonstrate the upcoming progressive development at the Bhartiya city, Bangalore, the brief was to create a flexible city town hall that would also serve as the site office/sales office to illustrate the urban real estate initiatives of the Bhartiya Group.
The brief also demanded the exploration of the possibilities of sustainable design and sustainable development on an extremely tight budget.
Spread across 125 acres, the development is planned as a place-making exercise to craft an environment to attract people.
Also determined from the brief is the fact that the building is only placed for 6 years and post that, it would be relocated and moved down the site precinct and hence the building was conceived as an assemblage of parts.
Being a Greenfield project in the outskirts of Bangalore, the design had to be more than just a rudimentary structure that would establish an identity even from the glimpse off the highway.
While typically, a building of this nature is placed at the edge of the site as an open flexible shell that is dressed up, in order to enhance the spatial connect with the visitors, the Discovery Centre is placed at the heart of the site to engage the visitor right through the development.
The building had to tell a story, the concerns of the township and of course demonstrate the residential and commercial characteristics of the development.
Optimizing the sky, light and air quality in Bangalore, the intent was create a progressive design experience that would demonstrate the core value of a high quality of life in the development.
Innovation is therefore crucial, and something distinctive had to be created that would not only stand out in form but also in colour, revealing a narrative for the township.
In a derelict zone with no clear indication of what was to come in up in the imminent future, a palette that would enable all these aspects is adopted.
An egg-shaped auditorium amidst an urban plaza is therefore conceived, which would attract the urban Indian family looking to be a part of the township.
Built with Glass fibre to introduce the narrative, the auditorium sits amidst a lotus pond that with its lotus motif pays homage to Indian design.
A single flight staircase in red steel & regional granite stand out as a distinct feature that brings visitors to itself.
